Binding: Paperback
Description: What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor hailed as a New Civil Rights Leader (L a Times) provides surprising answers. There is no shortage of democracy at least in name and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of thieving plutocrats in the White House to campaign finance and gerrymandering it is clear that democracy specifically the principle of government by and for the people is not living up to its promise. In Democracy Might Not Exist but We'll Miss It When It's Gone Astra Taylor shows that real democracy fully inclusive and completely egalitarian has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal weaving together history theory the stories of individuals and interviews with such leading thinkers as Cornel West Danielle Allen and Slavoj Zizek Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end a process or a set of desired outcomes? What if those outcomes whatever they may be peace prosperity equality liberty an engaged citizenry can be achieved by non - democratic means? Or if an election leads to a terrible outcome? If democracy means rule by the people what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people? The inherent paradoxes are unnamed and unrecognized. By teasing them Democracy Might Not Exist but We'll Miss It When It's Gone offers a better understanding of what is possible what we want and why democracy is so hard to realize.
Title: Democracy May Not Exist But We'll Miss It When It's Gone
Author(s): Taylor Astra
Publisher: Henry Holt And Co.
Barcode: 9781250231284
Pages: 368 Pages
Language: English
Publication Date: 5/19/2020
Category: Political Structures: Democracy